


Fixation

by butyoumight



Series: Since the Ocean is Our Coffin [1]
Category: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-20
Updated: 2011-06-20
Packaged: 2017-10-20 13:59:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/213512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butyoumight/pseuds/butyoumight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Beware the ghost in black...</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Fixation

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate Universe. Follows up my _[Shuffling Your Deck of Trick Cards](http://archiveofourown.org/series/8684)_ series.

It was raining. More than that, it was storming, the sky filled with dark rolling clouds, occasionally shot through with brilliant white and blue lightning and punctuated by echoing claps of thunder like gunshots.

Joe hated it. It had been a long time, a very long time since he'd lived sparingly on a desert planet, but even after all that time it seemed wasteful. So much water, fresh and relatively clean water, just falling out of the sky. And besides, the feeling of being soaked through while fully clothed was uncomfortable to say the least.

He wanted to retreat back to the ship, dry off and wait the storm out, but Marvelous wouldn't hear of it. Since they'd almost botched Navi's prophecy about Gai, who even now was losing a fight with an umbrella he'd brought along, Marvelous refused to hear a prophecy without completing it immediately, allowing no obstacles to stand in their way. He'd told Joe as much, that he wasn't going to be berated by Navi again. Not if he could help it, anyway.

"What was it, again?" Marvelous had to shout to be heard over the sound of the rain pounding the pavement all around them. They huddled close together and Joe judged the wind and moved to stand with his back to it, blocking Ahim from the gale force. She gave him a grateful little smile and he pretended to ignore it.

"Beware the ghost in black," Don answered, hunching his shoulders and tucking his hands inside his jacket. He was shivering, his teeth chattering between his words. "And I don't like it. It sounds bad. We don't need any ghosts."

"Where are we supposed to find a ghost, anyway?" Luka looked at Gai, who stared back at her with wide eyes. Despite his assurances that he was going to make them the greatest Super Sentai, he still seemed surprised when they asked him his opinion on anything. He simply failed thus far to realize that his true use to the crew was his position as an Earthling. He knew more about the planet than any of them without even trying.

"A graveyard, maybe." He answered. His face contorted into a thoughtful visage that looked strangely painful. In his distraction, a particularly rough gust of wind finally succeeded in tearing the umbrella out of his hands and carrying it away down the street. "Did it mean a real ghost, like a spirit?"

Joe shrugged. "We don't know. It's always vague like that."

"What would a ghost have to do with a Grand Power anyway?" Marvelous mused. He seemed completely at his ease despite the storm, and Joe frowned at him. Easy for Marvelous, nothing bothered him.

They all took a moment to consider the words of the prophecy again, but their quiet contemplation was broken by a sound that made the storm seem positively quiet by comparison. An explosion, a large one, and quite near. Gai actually jumped, startled.

"Was that caused by a lightning strike?" Ahim asked, one hand fluttering over her heart. Joe shook his head.

"There was no flash. More likely an attack."

"Again?" Luka complained. "They can't even stay in when it's raining?"

"Guess not." Marvelous grinned, and the smile seemed all the brighter in the gloom. "Let's go see."

Marvelous took off running before checking to see if the others would follow him. Of course, why should he? Gai went right on his heels, ever eager to prove himself, and the rest of the crew followed suit.

They found a large sort of public square, flat concrete with stairs leading up to an impressive building. The glass facade was shattered, apparently by the explosion. At the foot of the stairs stood a single body draped in black.

"A ghost in black?" Luka sidled up to Joe, their arms brushing together. He glanced at her and shrugged.

"Doesn't look like a ghost to me."

Joe had to rethink his statement when, as if attracted by his words, the figure turned to face them. Joe felt as if the entire planet had dropped away from beneath his feet. He knew that face, that never ending smirk and those burning eyes. He would never forget it.

A ghost it must be, his own personal ghost come to haunt him, for Basco ta Jolokia stood less than fifty paces away.

But it wasn't really like Basco at all. It had his face, his cocky stance with his hands on his hips, but his tunic and pants were both black, as was the shawl, fluttering around him in the wind despite being soaked through. There was a wicked scar marking his face, from the corner of his left eye into his damp hair, where a long streak had apparently grown in white, stark against the rest.

Joe closed his eyes hard and tried to will away the dark specter, and to hell with Navi _and_ her prophecy.

But it was no fever dream, no spirit come to haunt him. The others could see it.

"Who is that? An agent of Zangyack, obviously! Look at how he's dressed!" Gai alone didn't understand, they'd had no reason to tell him of that dark time in their past. "He destroyed that building! We'll defeat him!"

He stepped forward, and it was Don who moved to join him, Don who had still not quite forgiven the boy for neglecting his presence in the crew when first they'd met. Joe caught a glimpse of Don's face in a flash of lightning, and it had changed into a serious stony glare.

"This time I will make sure." He stated, and his voice had changed too, into a steely version of his usual tone.

Joe realized Marvelous' arms were around him, holding him still, and only then did he realize that he'd been trying to move forward, drawn like a magnet to his only nightmare. The girls stepped forward, flanking them, both adopting defensive stances that even in his confused haze Joe recognized that he'd taught them.

Don and Gai transformed and leapt like lightning at their enemy, and if Joe hadn't been sure before he was now: it was truly Basco, and he was alive.

From beneath his shawl he drew something familiar, the sword he had gifted Joe.

The fight was brutally short. Basco dodged their every strike, lashed out at them when they attempted to recover. Don, in his blind fury, was the first to fall. Basco kicked him in the chest, knocked him back thirty feet. He returned to his own self when he hit the pavement and rolled until he was at Luka's feet. She crouched and pulled him close. A trickle of blood was stark against his light hair and pale skin, and his eyes were only half-open and unfocused.

Gai continued to fight, but it was hopeless. A particularly vicious strike brought him out of his suit and to his knees, and Basco grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, dragged him from the ground kicking weakly. Basco positioned the sword at Gai's throat and stared across at them. His smirk had not wavered throughout the short frenzy.

The rain stopped as though a switch had been turned, and the sudden silence was unnerving.

"Yo, Marvey-chan!" There was something strange about Basco's voice, something different that Joe couldn't identify. Basco pressed the sword closer against Gai's throat when the boy struggled, and Gai smartly went still, though his eyes were wide, shining with fear. "You have a new toy, I see. Bit young, isn't he?"

Marvelous' grip on Joe went tight, crushing. "Let him go, Basco. He is not a part of this."

"I'm not so stupid as all that, Marvey-chan. You took everything from me. You and your precious comrades. _Everything_ , and yet you call _me_ evil." He shook Gai a little, a thin line of blood appeared on his throat where the sharp blade grazed his skin.

Marvelous took a step forward, in the same motion he shoved Joe behind him. It was Ahim who took his place, and while she had not Marvelous' strength, she pressed both hands to Joe's chest and looked up at him with wide, imploring eyes. He remained still, by sheer force of will. He couldn't disappoint her.

"Let. Him. Go." Marvelous repeated himself, drawing his gun from beneath his coat. Basco shifted, positioning Gai's lanky body more completely in front of himself. Even Marvelous wouldn't dare shoot now, the chance of hitting Gai was too great. Like it or not, he was one of them now.

"You have something of mine, Marvey-chan. I'll have it back, or your new pet dies."

"You will be getting no Ranger Keys, Basco. Release him and I might be persuaded to spare your life."

Basco laughed. It was a chilling sound, it sent a shock of fear down Joe's back, and he knew somehow what Basco was going to say, what he was demanding from them.

"You presume much, Marvey-chan. I don't want your trinkets. I don't want your pathetic treasure." Basco's eyes turned on Joe, and Joe felt sick, sick with himself for how he was drawn to the demon. "Come to me, blue-chan. Come to me _now_ ," he tilted the blade, drew another line of blood from Gai's throat.

Joe gently pushed Ahim aside. She grabbed for his arm and he shrugged her off. Marvelous stepped in front of him and grabbed his shoulders.

"Don't." Marvelous' voice was tight with barely restrained rage. "Don't you dare."

Ahim managed to catch his arm this time and she held on, her fingers digging in. "You promised. Joe-san."

Don stirred at their feet, tried to sit up and failed, falling back into Luka's arms with a faint groan. "Joe?"

Luka glared up at him fiercely, as if he'd been the one to reduce Don to this state.

Joe closed his eyes. He couldn't believe he was having to make this decision again, and now all the crew knew the choice that lay before him.

Gai cried out in pain as Basco dropped the sword to his shoulder, making a long cut that even from this distance was obviously nasty. Dangerous.

"Don't you leave me again." Marvelous' voice was shaking now, and so were his hands where he gripped Joe's shoulders.

"He's going to kill the kid. Marvelous, I can't, I can't let him... He won't hurt me. I know he won't."

Marvelous snarled, looking over his shoulder to glare at Basco. He shoved Joe away from himself, reached out to take Ahim's hand and draw her close to his side. Joe swallowed, and it was painful to choke back his fear.

Marvelous fixed him with a serious stare. "You come back to me. To us. Whatever it takes, you better come back."

Joe nodded and took a shuddering breath.

His legs felt weak, like they could barely hold his weight, but somehow he moved, walking forward across the pavement towards what he swore was the last thing he'd ever wanted.

Basco's eyebrow twitched, his smirk widened into a proper smile as Joe approached, hands outstretched.

"You thought I would ever let you go, blue-chan? My greatest treasure? Come here."

Joe was within arm's reach now. He held out one hand. "The sword, Basco. Give me the sword."

Basco snorted. He lifted the sword away from Gai and threw it hard behind himself, where it skittered half-way up the stairs. In one fluid motion, he threw Gai away from himself and grabbed Joe instead, pulled Joe close against his chest, wrapping his arm possessively around Joe's waist.

Joe was not helpless this time, not unarmed, but he found that he still could not hurt Basco, and he loathed himself for it.

Basco's lips were at his ear, tickling and making Joe shudder. "I was good to you, wasn't I, blue-chan? I took good care of you. You belong to me, on your honor you're mine."

"I am my own." Joe said, and he meant it, even Basco's little giggle didn't shake him.

"Yet still you came to me. The things you give up to defend your friends. That's why I love you, blue-chan."

It seemed to be becoming a theme, these tense moments being interrupted by deafening explosions. Joe ducked on reflex and he found himself pulling Basco with him, sheilding him.

"No." Basco growled, and the sound was feral and so completely unlike anything Joe had ever heard from him, it snapped him out of his hazy memory of a time he'd done his best to forget. "Damn it, no! Not now,"

Gormin sailors dropped from the sky. No, not from the sky, from a Zangyack ship that had crept up on them, unnoticed in the clouds.

Basco grabbed Joe's face and kissed him fiercely. Joe froze, confused and not quite resisting like he knew he should. Basco barely pulled back, so his lips brushed against Joe's own when he whispered.

"I'll come back for you. I'll not rest until I have you back."

Basco's fingers brushed tenderly through Joe's bangs, and as suddenly as he'd appeared from the storm, Basco was gone in a flurry of black and red feathers, leaving Joe on his back on the pavement.

"Joe!" It was Luka's voice, and it was frantic. Joe blinked and sat up to find himself in the midst of a frenzied battle. Perhaps it had all been a dream. He almost believed it, except for the exotic spicy-sweet taste still lingering on his lips, the impossible to forget flavor of Basco.

Still, there was battle here, now, and Joe's crew, his friends, his _family_ needed help. He struggled to his feet, groping in his pocket for his Mobirates.


End file.
